The Deadliest Service Rifle Ever Fielded by The US Military; The M4A1

[Hank6046]

So the M4A1 platform has put more enemy in the dirt than the M1 Garand? Garand in service through out all of WWII, Korea and into the early part of Viet Nam (1965). I guess there is really no absolute way to know, but call me skeptical.

He's only saying that because of dumb POGs like me who were issued one, it make us salivate and instantly click on the video

[1168]

Key M4 upgrades according to the video:

M4 Feed Ramps
H2 Buffer
Extractor Spring
SOCOM Barrel Profile
14.5" Barrel Length balances multiple factors well
Magpul Anti-Tilt Magazine Followers
Magpul PMAG
Improved Ammunition - Mk262, Mk318, M855A1


Not a surprising list to most people here, but a good reminder of the small but meaningful improvements that make the platform great today.

Up front, I didn’t watch the video…I find him theatric enough that I have to be in the mood to watch a movie.

Of these improvements, in my time the most important was the extractor spring upgrade. The feed ramps happened before my time.

Shooting suppressed, failures to extract were not uncommon, especially on auto. My armorer used to give me piles of O-rings, and then when the spring upgrade came out, he gave me a pile of those, just in case.

The H2 buffer complimented the new barrel profile. Though, I distinctly remember a conversation with my armorer when we got the Knight’s cans, and he’d just gotten back from Crane, and he was giving me a pile of o-rings. He told me that we should be using heavier buffers with the cans, but I knew jackshit about anything regarding stuff like that at the time. I was like “can we shoot these things, or not?”. I didn’t even know buffers came in different weights prior to that. Then, off to Ramadi I went. Our rifles worked better than they did before the o-rings, but not as well as they did after all the other upgrades.

The Magpul followers were (are) really good. We tested the HK mags before that, and honestly, most of us thought they sucked. The green follower and others following it were OK, but the Magpul ones are the best. When the PMags came out, my CPT asked if I thought we should buy them with the opfund, but my experience with HK mags and how they fit in pouches made me distrustful, so we went with followers instead. I probably personally own a few hundred mags retrofitted with them at this point. But PMags work really well, too.


M855A1 improved precision again about as much as the new barrel profile did. And it greatly improved lethality*. Before it came out, I was pretty satisfied with the other ammo, but I was working almost exclusively at night, and either engagement ranges were very close, or at a distance wherein we could not be contested. The new ammo brings that lethality to the masses, and its stellar.

I’ve said before, and maintain the statement, that the M4A1 is the finest general issue weapon ever fielded by any military organization in history. And combined with the M855A1 round and decent optics, its just an incredible combination.

*even with green tip, you can absolutely dumpster a guy in the right scenario. I can ramble about this for days. I can’t recall a single time that it didn’t drop a guy in a hurry given proper placement.

[Uncas47]

Up front, I didn’t watch the video…I find him theatric enough that I have to be in the mood to watch a movie.

Of these improvements, in my time the most important was the extractor spring upgrade. The feed ramps happened before my time.

Shooting suppressed, failures to extract were not uncommon, especially on auto. My armorer used to give me piles of O-rings, and then when the spring upgrade came out, he gave me a pile of those, just in case.

The H2 buffer complimented the new barrel profile. Though, I distinctly remember a conversation with my armorer when we got the Knight’s cans, and he’d just gotten back from Crane, and he was giving me a pile of o-rings. He told me that we should be using heavier buffers with the cans, but I knew jackshit about anything regarding stuff like that at the time. I was like “can we shoot these things, or not?”. I didn’t even know buffers came in different weights prior to that. Then, off to Ramadi I went. Our rifles worked better than they did before the o-rings, but not as well as they did after all the other upgrades.

The Magpul followers were (are) really good. We tested the HK mags before that, and honestly, most of us thought they sucked. The green follower and others following it were OK, but the Magpul ones are the best. When the PMags came out, my CPT asked if I thought we should buy them with the opfund, but my experience with HK mags and how they fit in pouches made me distrustful, so we went with followers instead. I probably personally own a few hundred mags retrofitted with them at this point. But PMags work really well, too.


M855A1 improved precision again about as much as the new barrel profile did. And it greatly improved lethality*. Before it came out, I was pretty satisfied with the other ammo, but I was working almost exclusively at night, and either engagement ranges were very close, or at a distance wherein we could not be contested. The new ammo brings that lethality to the masses, and its stellar.

I’ve said before, and maintain the statement, that the M4A1 is the finest general issue weapon ever fielded by any military organization in history. And combined with the M855A1 round and decent optics, its just an incredible combination.

*even with green tip, you can absolutely dumpster a guy in the right scenario. I can ramble about this for days. I can’t recall a single time that it didn’t drop a guy in a hurry given proper placement.

Can't beat hands on testimony.